Conference 2015 Ways of Love − Snapshots of Catholic Encounter with LGBT People and their Families

An international network of 13 organizations of/with LGBT Catholics met for the first time during the Family Synod 2014 in Rome and since then we have worked together to initiate a global network of LGBTQI Catholics, their parents and families.

Part of the program is a public conference “Ways of Love – Snapshots of Catholic Encounter with LGBT People and their Families”. This conference will present LGBT pastoral activities from all over the world that are already going on.

Invited are groups and organizations of LGBT Catholics, their parents and families as well as ecumenical groups with significant numbers of Catholic members; also advocates who work for inclusion, dignity and equality for LGBT people, their parents and families in the Catholic Church..

The Conference “Ways of Love – Snapshots of Catholic Encounter with LGBT People and their Families” (Rome, October 3rd, 2015) will present examples from all over the world of LGBT pastoral care and inclusion already realized in the Catholic Church.
These testimonies, given by Catholic pastoral leaders from around the globe, demonstrate that a pastoral approach is better than an ideological one for promoting peaceful and fruitful relationships with LGBT people in the everyday life of Roman Catholic communities.
Because the conference’s case histories have been successful for many years, they serve as models for the bishops gathered in the Synod who will be discussing ways to welcome and include LGBT people into church communities. The witness of these pastoral leaders shows that including LGBT people is already happening among Catholics worldwide, even in the absence of concrete guidelines from the hierarchy.